homework (group)

1. A Genre-based Analysis of Brief Tourist
Information Texts
Abstract.
This present study gives a genre-based analysis of 30 BTI texts on
websites of tourism destinations. The study first identifies the
moves and steps of the corpus employing Swales’ top-down move
analysis model(1990)and then examines the linguistic forms to
realize each move.Applying ideas from destination image, this
study further explores how the image is discursively created and
projected.The main findings yielded from the analysis demonstrate
that Establishing credentials move as the obligatory move as the
obligatory move in BTI texts mainly builds the designative and
evaluative images of tourism destinations, which induce the
affective image.
Introduction
Brief tourist information text is a pre-trip tourism text delivering
travel information about a tourist attraction or destination.As an
important promotional device in tourism industry, this genre has
found its way into the websites of many local tourism organizations
or companies,which aim to promote the tourism potential of their
region.
On the other hand, tourist nowadays especially self-styled travelers
are shifting to web-based resources including travel websites and
blogs from traditional printed materials for information about
attractions, flights and hotel, etc.
Tourists information text , as a touristy publicity literature, is
believed to be able to perform an important function in the
decision-making process which draws people to a tourism
destination.
Theoretical background and methodology
Genre and ESP approach
Firstly, genre is goal-oriented but the communicative purpose is
unstable; secondly genre is not static but a dynamic process; thirdly
genre, staged with typified constituent serialized through segments,

2. is eventually realized through lexico-grammatical devices.
Genre is a formal properly of texts, and this attribute enables them
to described as a sequence of segments, or :moves”, each of which
represents a stretch of text shaped and constrained by a particular
communicative function and contributes in some way to serving the
more global and general communicative purpose of the genre as a
whole.’
Swales(1990)states that :steps:are a series of constituent
components,which combine to contain information in the move.
Bhatia (1993)set out that moves are discriminative elements of
generic organization while steps are non-discriminative genre
constructing.
Swales (1990) built his three-move schemaCreate a Research
Space (CARS) modelfor research article introductions. He
identified the following Moves: Establishing a territory Establishing
a niche, and Occupying the niche. Serving the writer’s specific
social purposes, each move can be realized by a certain number of
stepsinparticular sequential order.
Destination image.
Tourism destination image refers to the holistic impressiontourists
have of a destination. As a complex concept, destination image can
be divided into projected image and perceived image (Baloglu &
McCleary, 1999).Projected image is the image that the destination
expects to create, while perceived image is the tourist’s subjective
impression of the destination (Zhang, Xu Lu & Lei, 2015). Projected
image is perceived as an important source of perceived image.
Methodology.
The focus of the study is on a selectionof 30 BTI texts from the
officialor professionalwebsites of tourism destinations with various
subjects ranging from culture landscape,artificialized natural
landscape (e.g. gardens, parks, etc.) to natural scenery.
Tourism promotiondiscoursessuch as tour booklets,travel guides
and tourism websites have been researched on destination
projected image.
Textual analysis was done on two particular aspects:destination
image and generic structures.As an integral and influential part of
potential tourists’ decisionprocess,destination image is created by
BTI texts to fulfill some particular communicative functions.

3. Major Findings
Communicative purpose.
The communicative purpose of BTI texts lies in three aspects:to
offerinformation, to attract attention and to persuade.
The function of informing is considered the first and foremost
requirement for BTI text. To give the reader a general idea about
his trip, adequate and truthful information needs to be offered about
what a tourism destination is like.
Another communicative purpose is to capture the reader’s
attention.
Identificationof moves and steps.
The texts typically consistof two parts: a headline and main text.
This analysis of the data leads to the identification of five moves of
the online BTI genre. They include: the Headline move, the
Background information move, the Establishing credentials move,
the Directive information move and the Soliciting response move.
Move 1 Headline
A title that serves the functional purpose of attracting readers’
attention and usually shows the name of the tourism destination.
Move2 Background information
This move type offersinformation about how long the destination
has come into being, what it was used for, how it was developed to
what it is, etc.
A breakdown and descriptionof moves and steps of online BTI
texts
Move1 Headline
A title to show or representthe place.
Move2 Background information
About the history and government,developed
Move3 Establishing credentials
To show the advantage and uniqe of the destination for
attracting the attention of reader.
And there are 7steps
Step1.Introduce general situation
A sketchy descriptionof destination,and it focouses on the factual
content,maybe resources,serviceoffered,and the feature is

4. thefrequent of use active,favorable adjectives.
In Example spectacularbeautiful largest biggest
Step2.Stating honors
A brief introduction of honors or awards to convince readers to
come.
In Example World Heritage Site
Step3.Quoting literary works
Some literatures related to the destination,the purpose of attracting
the readers attention and arouse his interest.
In Example the mention of the old book,
Step4.Indicating value
Specialvalue about the place,let the readers have a grand
image,with local customs may arouse their curiosity.
Step5.Describing activities or events
Holding specialevents for tourists to join.
In Example,festivaland events,concerts,ceildhs,dances or some
descriptions a wide variety of particularly busy to forming the affect
image visiting the place will be pleasant.
Step6.Describing services or facilities
Information about the conveniences travelers can enjoy,including
food and accommodationoptiond,shopping hints,sports and
entertainment facilities.
In Example,visitor centre,ticketoffice,carparking,no charge,large
parties.The adjective ample helps create the evaluative image to
strengthen the readers impressionof the quality service.
Step7.Describing key attraction
Detail knowledge about the destination,such as
landscapr,animals,plants,or building.
In Example orange,yellow,and red faliage,wild
flowers,world-reknowned,spectacular,
Presenting the beautiful scenery before the reader,and thus builds
the evaluate image.
Move4.Directive information
This move is to offerbrief directionon how to reach the place.
To fulfill the informing purpose,this move reminds the reader of the
important facts about tours at the destination and helps create the
designative image with relevant information.

5. Step 1 Soliciting actions. This step is to persuade or motivate the
reader to buy the tourist product.
Step 2 Delivering welcome/wish/thanks. This step is designed to
give an end (sometimes a beginning) to the text, helping establish a
rapport with the addressee,impressing him with hospitality and
sincerity, and more importantly persuading him to pay a visit.
Step 3 Providing contact details. This step is employed to
encourage the reader to find out more about the place. It offers the
contact details, which can be used by the reader to enter into
contact with or get more information about the destination.
Move structures. The move structures of the English BTI texts will
be analyzed in terms of move frequencyand move recursion.
Move sequence and recursion. A closerlook at where the moves
occur in the texts shows that Move 1 (Headline) always occurs first
in the texts, and Move 2 (Background information) and Move 3
(Establishing credentials) usually appear in the middle of the texts.
DiscussionThe study approaches the English BTI texts on
websites of tourism destinations within the framework of genre
analysis. The major findings can be summarized as follows:
First, BTI texts are a mixed genre exhibiting a mixed feature of
being informative, attractive and persuasive.
Second,the move Establishing credentials is found the only
obligatory move of BTI texts.
Third, the most conspicuous lexical feature of Move Establishing
credentials is the frequent use of favorable adjectives, which
highlights the positive features of the places described and the
services offered.
Fourth, the designative image is mainly created by the names of all

6. kinds of destination resources in the information-abundant moves
Establishing credentials, Background information and Directive
information.
Conclusion Based on the previous analyses and discussions,a
tentative conclusioncan be drawn about the genre of BTI text and
the destination images it projects.
(1) The Establishing credentials move plays a crucial role in
introducing and promoting the referred tourism destinations and
constitutes the obligatory move in BTI texts.
(2) BTI texts exhibit a balance between two prominent tones: the
tone of authority and the interpersonal tone.
In summary, not only is the genre of BTI texts a medium to deliver
tourist information, but also a bridge between destination resources
and tourist experience,depicting unique destination image